Frezier, Amédée François
Traitè des feux d'artifice pour le spectacle
1747, Paris, Antoine Jombert
Second Edition
This expanded and revised edition of Frézier’s treatise represents the most complete and practically oriented study of artificial fireworks produced in the early modern period. First issued in 1706 with a smaller suite of plates, the work was substantially reworked after the appearance of an unauthorized edition printed at The Hague in 1741 by Jean Neaulme. Prompted by this pirated version, Frézier prepared the present corrected and augmented edition, refining the text and enlarging its scope. Far from a purely military manual, the treatise marks a decisive shift toward fireworks as an art of spectacle and public celebration. While grounded in technical precision, it addresses fireworks as instruments of wonder, ceremony, and civic display. Contemporary commentators rightly noted Frézier’s breadth of expertise: a military engineer responsible for fortifications in the Caribbean, he nonetheless produced a work that treats recreational pyrotechnics with unprecedented seriousness and clarity. The result is a landmark text that helped redefine fireworks from tools of war into vehicles of artistic and theatrical expression.
The treatise is divided into three main parts, moving systematically from theory to practice. The first examines raw materials and ingredients, including detailed formulations for gunpowders and combustible mixtures. The second addresses manufacture, with step-by-step instructions for constructing rockets, Roman candles, and a wide range of decorative devices. The final section is devoted to display, explaining how fireworks are arranged, ignited, and coordinated to produce complex visual effects. Throughout, Frézier describes colored fires, underwater effects, elaborate set pieces, and an exceptional range of rocket designs. His analysis of rockets is particularly advanced, including devices capable of repeated flight and controlled rotation, features that later writers recognized as precursors to modern rocketry. Numerous technical discussions are supported by precise terminology, gathered in a concluding glossary that standardizes the language of the art. The book closes by situating pyrotechnics within their social and ceremonial context, outlining appropriate occasions for bonfires, illuminations, and festive displays. Technical rigor and spectacle coexist throughout, making this work both a manual for practitioners and a document of early modern culture, where engineering, chemistry, and celebration converge.
Frézier turns gunpowder into poetry with rigor, spectacle, and wit. War recedes, wonder takes center stage, and fireworks become theater.
Pp. [1] f.e., [4], i-xxxviii, XXXIX-LIV, [2], 496, XIII folding plates, [1] r.e.
Contemporary full marbled calf binding with gilt spine and five raised bands. Marble endpapers with red edges. Some rubbing, especially at the corners. Antiquarian bookseller label from Marseille affixed to front inner plate. Architectural frontispiece depicting a festively decorated building. Woodcut initials, headpieces, and tailpieces; tables within the text. Three copper engravings used as headpieces at the opening of the relevant chapters, showing workers engaged in the production and installation of fireworks, and a festively adorned building. Thirteen folding plates at the end, illustrating instruments (I–IX and XII) and examples of buildings prepared for fireworks displays (X, XI, and XIII). Minor worming at the lower inner margin of the final leaves. A very good copy. Reference: Brunet VI 10223
Dimensions (inches): 8 x 5 1/2 x 1 1/2
Amédée-François Frézier (1682-1773), French military engineer, mathematician, architect and explorer. Charles-Nicolas Cochin (1715-1790) was a French engraver, designer, writer, and art critic.
Condition & Provenance Reports
Additional notes and photographs available by request.
Insured & Signature Shipping
Secure, fully insured delivery requiring signature. Gift wrapping available on request.
Collector & Wants-List Service
Submit wants lists for tailored notifications and acquisition support.
